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MP John Hayes on why he wants to bring back the death penalty




UPDATE: South Holland and the Deepings MP John Hayes has told SpaldingToday why he wants to bring back the death penalty for extreme cases and where evidence of murder through filming or DNA evidence is irrefutable.

Mr Hayes said: “I asked a question about the Government considering reinstating the death penalty in response to extreme crimes, but it has shown it is not enthusiastic about it.”

“A significant number of my constituents have always believed that the death penalty should be available to the courts and I agree. Not as a mandatory punishment but in extreme cases such as the Manchester bombing and the Westminster Bridge attacks.

“These kind of cases and cases where paedophiles rape and kill children, or when old ladies are tortured and killed. In these extreme circumstances, it should be available to the courts to consider capital punishment after judging a case on its merits.

“It seems that some people are prepared to do anything and we should be able to have laws that allow us to calculate if those laws could make a difference.

“There are strong feelings on both sides of the argument and there is the fear of making mistakes but that is less so now with the advancement of DNA testing and the amount of these chilling and horrifying crimes that are actually filmed. When there is irrefutable evidence, such as the filmed death of Lee Rigby, I think it removes a lot of the argument against the death penalty.”

John Hayes (5190489)
John Hayes (5190489)

Previously: South Holland and the Deepings MP John Hayes has called for the reintroduction of hanging.

The former minister has asked the government to bring back the death sentence for those who commit 'extreme' crimes.

He has asked justice secretary David Gauke to consider the “potential merits” of capital punishment and says it “should be available to the courts” in cases such as that of Westminster Bridge attacker Khalid Masood.

Masood was shot dead by police after driving into pedestrians and stabbing to death PC Keith Palmer in March 2017.

Mr Hayes has suggested it would have been appropriate for Masood to be hanged, had he survived.

In a written parliamentary question, Mr Hayes asked the justice secretary to “make an assessment of the potential merits of bringing forward legislative proposals to reintroduce the death penalty to tackle violent crime”.

Responding, justice minister Edward Argar said the government “opposes the use of the death penalty in all circumstances and has no plans to reintroduce it”.

He said the Uk is, in fact, campaigning for the abolition of the death penalty around the world and added: “There is no evidence that capital punishment acts as a deterrent to violent crime. Furthermore, the reintroduction of the death penalty would bring with it the very real risk that some innocent people would die.”



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